Austin Commercial has promoted Ralph Ketchum to vice president, western region. Ketchum was instrumental in establishing offices in Phoenix, San Diego and more recently, the Los Angeles area. Ketchum has 27 years of experience in the construction industry in addition to a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences and his Juris Doctor degree, both from the University of Illinois.

W. L. Butler Construction Inc. added Kevin Small as business development manager for the emergent Arizona office.

In this position, Small will be responsible for prospecting new clients, generating proposals, developing forecasts and maintaining existing relationships.

Small brings a wealth of technical aptitude and industry contacts to his new position and has a demonstrated ability to improve efficiency, increase revenues and manage new or existing clients from his previous experience. As the assistant advertising director at the Phoenix Business Journal, Small was responsible for the strategic development of new relationships within the construction industry and participated in a number of trade associations. In addition, Small established the framework for successful lead generation processes and was instrumental in the acquisition of new business during his two years as Kitchell’s business development manager.

Tony Illia received the 2009 Robert F. Boger Journalism Award, Honorable Mention, from the Construction Writers Association, a Chicago-based national trade group. He won for the article, “Gambling with Lives,” which appeared last year in ENR. Southwest Contractor, like ENR, is a publication of McGraw-Hill Construction. Illia has contributed to Southwest Contractor since 1999.

The PENTA Building Group recently announced the promotions of Susie Calvin to senior estimator, Steve Jones to vice president of field operations, and John Cannito to vice president of finance and corporate services.

Calvin will manage the bid team, work to develop bid strategies, monitor subcontractors and compile estimates. Calvin joined the company as an estimator in 2007 with more than 14 years of experience in the construction industry including three years as an instructor at Kansas State University.

In his new role, Jones will be responsible for managing field supervision and labor for all of the company’s regions, directing PENTA’s construction activities and working with preconstruction to secure new work. He joined PENTA as a project manager in 2001.

Cannito will oversee the consolidation of accounting and corporate services into one department and will be responsible for all back-of-house PENTA functions. He has been with PENTA since 2004, having served as director of training and development and director of corporate services.

Psomas appointed Kevin Thornton as an associate. Thornton is a senior project manager and registered professional civil engineer in Psomas’ Tucson office. He received his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Arizona and has more than 16 years of experience in transportation engineering.

Gilbane Building Co. has added Carlos Ramirez as senior project safety manager and John Webber, P.E. as senior project engineer.

Ramirez brings over 15 years of construction related safety experience and will serve as an advisor to the project staff. He is an OSHA 500 & 501 certified trainer and has developed and instructed safety related courses. He was a crew chief on the UH-1N Huey in the U.S. Marine Corps and eventually led the emergency response team for Camp Pendleton California.

Webber has over 14 years of construction experience, relocating from Gilbane’s New England office. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Cleveland State University.

To submit personnel news announcements, please send information and color photographs to: Scott Blair, editor, at scott_blair@mcgraw-hill.com.